Reducing machine



June 30, 1936. w. 1. ARMSTRONG REDUCING MACHINE Filed March 15, 1932 Ilates to a rotor construction for Patented .lune 30, 1936 PATENT FriesBEDUCING MAC Walter J. Arrastre,

to The Jeffrey Man nur e Y i- Of @M9 The present invention relates to roreducing maoes, and culariy to such ohines as applied to the reductionoi friabie material. More particularly, the invention revolving a newform oi hammer and hammer combination. The invention is particularlyapplicable to the type of machine broadly covered in U. 8. Patent 101,761,083, granted to William K. Liggett, June 3, 1930, wherein therotor includes centrifugally projectible beaters whose projection islimited by abutment means on the rotor. the beaters being movableinwardly of the rotor to an ineective or l inoperative position uponcessation or counteraction of centrifugal force. In his U. S.application Serial No. 362,951, filed May 14, i929, Nils D. Levin hasdescribed a machine in which the Liggett development is carried furtherto the end that, through the use of comparatively heavy hammers ofconsiderable length, a relatively W speed machine is made practical.

According to the present invention. beaters having relatively greatinertia, as ltaught by Levin, are preferably employed, a novel form ofbeater head being provided whereby the produc-v "tionoi an undesirableamount of unes is avoided. The particular beater or hammer contemplatedhas a round head which presents a working face convexly curved from itsleading to its trailing end. Beaters of this type will strike a blow andsledge or shatter material rather than eut through it as is the tendencyof beaters having relatively plane working faces with sharp edges. Themachine may be entirely equipped with the round head type of beater forreduction of ma-v terials which break up readily and where no dimcultyis encountered in discharging theflni'shed product. On the other hand,the machine may 4u be partly equipped with round head beaters and partlywith the' plane f aced type. the particular arrangement depending upon anumber of factors, such as the fineness of the product required.`capacity (when time is not an important factor) i5 and the nature ofthe material whether wet. sticky o r dry. When quantity feed or feed ofrelatively large material is 'desirablefit may be necessary to use a fewplane faced beaters in conjunction the round head beaters.

Where a screening medium, such as the well known screen bars, ispresent, the matter of discharge therethrough is an importantconsideration since with some materials the round head hammer will havea tendency to force unfinished material into the finished product.making it such machines in- Columbus, Ohio, gnor iosa, si No. soeces(ci. os--iii necessary to employ a closer spacing of the screen hars.However, the useof a few plane iaced hammers will ordinarily overcomethis difllculty, since they will tend to cut through the materialil inthe screen section, reducing it sutilciently for passage therethroughwithout forcing. In explanation of the above, and as will be apparentfrom the accompanying drawings, the round head beaters engage thematerial to be reduced with an outward forcing action, whereas the planefaced beaters have a substantially ilat .impact with the material.

The invention also includes a rotor body design intended to accommodatean odd or an even number of axial rows of beaters without destroying therotor balance.

The invention also includes the other subsidiary improvements which willbe mentioned in the following description and which will be pointed outin the claims.

lIn the drawing:

Figure 1 is a trans-axial section through a ma.- chine embodying theimprovements of the present invention.

".Figure 2 is a larged, of one of the Figure l, and

Figure 3 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 showing a modified beaterarrangement.

The general form of machine shown in Figure 1 is weil known in the artand is specifically described in Reissue Patent No. 17,334, William K.Liggett, June 25, 1929. The machine comprises generally a casing 5 in.which is revolubly mounted a shaft 6 on which are keyed a number ofdisks as at l spaced axially of theshaft by means of collars as at l.According to thapres: ent invention, the disks are provided outwardly ofthe collars with a series of apertures 9, twelve of these aperturesbeing shown, and these being spaced at thirty-degree intervals. Theapertures 9 of the various disks are in alignment and, as here shown,every third one of the concentric series has a tie-rod Il passedtherethrough.

A outwardly of the apertures 9 the disks are provided with anotherconcentrlc series of somewhat larger apertures Il, each disk havingtwelve of these apertures as here shown with the centers thereof lyingon the radii of shaft 8 passing through the centers of theapertures l.It, of course, follows that apertures li are spaced 30 apart.

Pivot rods l2 aremountedfih the apertures il intersected by the radii ofshaft I passing through the apertures t which are occupied' by thetieperspective view somewhat ennew beaters as shown in rods I0, and onthe rods I2 are mounted beaters generally designated by the referencenumeral I3, these beaters each comprising an arm portion I4 and anangularly extending head por'- tion'II at one end of the arm portion. Inthe i apertures II next succeeding, in the clockwise direction, theapertures II occupied by the rods I2,` are mounted abutment rods I2',which cooperate with the beater arms adjacent the heads to limit thecentrifugal projection of the latter. Upon cessation or counteraction ofcentrifugal force the beaters are movable inwardly of the, rotor bodyinto abutmentwith the collars 8, 'the position of the tie-rods I0 beingso chosen that the latter are out of the path of inward movement of thebeaters. The selective positioning of the tie-rods is, of course,permitted by theexcess number of apertures 9.

With the disks provided with aperturesat 30 intervals for the receptionof the pivot and abutment rods, considerable flexibility of design ispermitted so-that various results may be ob-' a number of apertures II,which number is the` common denominator of the integers- 2 and i. Morespecifically, the invention contemplates the provision of such aperturesspaced 30 from each other. Whatever the number of pivot rods involved,the tie-rods may be correspondingly lo'- cated so as not to interferewith the inward movement of the beaters.

Each beater arm II at its end opposite the head I5 is provided with aboss I6 pierced to receive a pivot rod I2, the boss being of a size tosubstantially fill the rod space between adjacent disks. The arm Il andhead I5 are of less thickness than the boss, although the head, as hereshown, may be provided with lateral ribs I1 having a guided ilt betweenadjacent disks so as to prevent chattering of the beater. The beaterhead projects substantially rectangula'rly from Vthe arm and is ofsubstantially the same length as the latter. The longitudinal boundarysurface of the arm at the head end thereof and .at the side opposite thehead is curvilinearly continued throughout the outer poion oftheheadsothat the head presents e. convexly curved working face indicated ati5, Figure 2, the working face merging at the free end of the head witha reentrant inner longitudinal boundary surface I5b which merges withthe other longitudinal boundary surface of the arm. As here shown, thesurface Iiib is concavely curved substantially on an arc concentric withthe pivotal axis of the beater. As shown in Figure 1, the abutment rodsi2' are disposed close to the surface '15, the latter being shaped, asdescribed, inv order not to interfere with the rods while still givingthe irse end of the beater as much of a rearward overhang as possible.The surfaces I5a and I5 merge. in a substantially taperedpoint Iiicwhich is directed toward the opposite end of the arm I4. The reducingaction takes place principally on that portion of face I5'l adjacentpointI-V,

this area of the face being directed more or less toward the boss I6.

In order that the beater may offer a considerable resistance to inwardmovement when the rotor is rotating, head I 5 preferably has aconsiderably greater mass than arm I4, this being secured by forming itwith a considerably great- 'As'in thel reissue patent, 4above referredto, a restricted reducing zone is defined in conjunc- .mtion with therotor by an abutment bar or breaker .plate I d and screen bars I9. Thedistance between the pivot rods and abutment rods is less than. the4distance, between the pivot rods and "the bieaker plate I8 and screenbars I9 or other outerreduction'aone defining means, so that in cases.beaterarmbreaks at any point between the pivotand abutment rods, thepivoted portion cannot be projected suillciently to engage any of theouter zone defining means so as to cause damage thereto. 'Ihe distancebetween the pivotal axlsof any beaterand its abutment means ispreferably no greater than the distance from the pivotal axis to themaximum circle described by thef beater when fully projected.

In Figure 3 the casing and rotor body are the same as in Figure 1. 'I herotor body, however, supports ltwo opposite axially extending series ofround head beaters I3 and two opposite axially extendinggfseries'ofplane faced beaters 20. Other relative arrangements of the two types ofbeaters are, of course, possible, but in any event care must be taken tosee that the distribution is such that rotor balance ismaintained. Thelbeaters 20 have dat substantially'l'square working faces 2i inclinedsomewhat rearwardly relative' to radial planes of 1the rotor and, as'above described, have rather a cutting action as contrasted to the roundhead beaters- 1t will be understood tha'tjwhilel have gone into somedetail 'in "the description of the invention in order that the same may'be readily understood ,the following claims.

denim: '1 A 'A 1 In' a machine of 'the class described, a rotor body, 'abester, said beater having an arm portion and `a. head portionprojecting angularly from the portion at one endof' thelatter, the armpor- .,tion being pivoted at its other end to the rotor bodyfwith thehead portion in trailing relation as regards the direction of rotorrotation, said head portion having a convexly curved working surfaceextending lgenerally'in the longitudinal direction -of said arm portionand merging at its end toward the pivot'ed end of said arml portion witha reentrant boundary'surface which merges with said arm portion wherebya substantially hook-shaped beater is provided,'said last named surfacebeing d"practiced, Ido notl limit' myself except as in Y l curvedsubstantially on 'an arc having a center 60 leading ends, said pointbeing outside of the rotor periphery ia'riiclfbeing closer to the rotoraxis than Ithe medial *portion of said working surface` when the head isfully projected, the head beingymovable i of oentrirugalfror.

j withizi-the'peripnery of the rotor body upon coun- 2. In a machine kofthe `claas described, a rotor body comprising a rotary shaft, axiallyspaced plates iixed to said shaft, and rods extending through aperturesin said plates in parallel relation to said shait, a beater between twoadjacent ones of said plates comprising anarmportion .and a head portionprojecting angularly from the arm portion at one end o! the latter, theother end ci said arm portion having an apertured bossiormed thereonadapted to be strung on one of said rods, said head portion having aconvexlycurved work. ing surface extending ygenerally in the longitudi-vnal direction of said arm portion and merging at its end toward thepivoted end of said arm portion with a re-entrant boundary surface whichmerges with said arm portion wherebya substantially hook-shaped beateris provided, .,SII-idvlast- .named surface being curved on .an archaving a center substantially lat `the pivoting axis of said armportion, and an abutment on the rotor for cooperation with said arm`portion and disposed adjacent said arcuate surface, the

beater :arm portion engaging said abutment upon rotor rotation and beingheid by the latter within the periphery of the rotory body in parallelrelation to a diameter of said body with `the head centrifugallyprojected from the body1 said surfaces forming a point at their leadingends, said point being outside oi the rotor Aperiphery andbeing closerI.to the rotor axis than the medial portion of said workingsuriace whenthe head is fully projected, the head being movable within `theperiphery oi lthe rotor body upon counteraction of centrifugal force,said boss being of greater thick ness than the arm portion and than thehead portion proper, the head portion having laterally projecting ribsthereon to provide a transverse dimension substantially equal to thespacing of the two l adjacent plats, said ribs being spaced inwardlyfrom the working face of said head portion so as to be always betweensaid adjacent plates in guided relation thereto.

J. ARMSTRONG.

